Worship the spirit alone, follow the truth, purify hate, make yourself One with Master of light. Above all, Honor The Inner Master, these are the words used to decribe The 135, the Draconian Black Metal band from France. There’s some sort of mystery around the band, as you can’t find any information available about the members or the band itself, other than the sole release as of yet, the 2015 EP “Lumen Per Lumen” and their location.

First I have to say how much I admire the French Black Metal scene. In my view one of the best and yet, not as hailed as it should be. Of course there’s a lot of praise, but I still believe this country has given us so many interesting and unique bands, with different views and outtakes in the extreme metal scene. I’m not going to mention names, but you can find qualitative bands in the pagan, old-school, raw, industrial, and experimental, up to the depressive and post metal ones. You can just find great bands in all these subgenres of Black Metal. It’s my humble opinion, and wish, that these bands, even though some already are, will be more recognized by the listeners.

Back to The 135, I really enjoyed their début release, “Lumen Per Lumen”. Composed of three songs, it leaves you craving for more. The music is very extreme and yet atmospheric, but never losing the rawness of their sound. An organized chaos is perhaps a way of describing what can be heard in this EP. It’s also very sinister and imposing, fast and crushing, a total attack to your ears, but a pleasant attack if you enjoy uncompromised, fast and powerful Black Metal. Fierce, venomous and ugly, this is, in my modest view, one hell of a release.

The recording quality is also to be praised, you can enjoy all instruments and details of the music with this sort of production, but still keeping it a bit dirty, as expected in the genre. I’m indeed impressed with “Lumen Per Lumen” and expect to listen to new materials very soon. And so, my friends, I invite you all to check their music, legally, at The 135 official Bandcamp page. If you happen to enjoy this sonic chaos, I urge you all to support and promote this band any way that is possible for you.